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Saturday, July 28, 2018

Fogo de Ciao

It's never easy to lose a fan favorite in a trade. Eduardo Escobar, in the final year of his contract, leading all of baseball in doubles, versatile in the field, was a valuable trade piece for a Twins team well out of the playoff picture. The Twins get three Class-A prospects in return from Arizona, but what do they lose?

Escobar had no problem making himself the clubhouse glue, whether he was playing the role of AAAA bench guy, then fill in utility guy, then first man off the bench, and the last three seasons as the everyday Shortstop. His obsession with Fogo de Chao eventually led to his own dugout drink, #cagejuice, which is essentially water he liberated from the restaurant in the weeks following the team's trip to Puerto Rico, where he met with Nicholas Cage. Twins fans will miss Eddie's #Fogopower and his leadership on and off the field. I hope the Twins try to sign him again in the off-season.

The Twins also parted ways with lights-out reliever Ryan Pressly. He was originally a Rule V draftee from the Red Sox org., and after a year stashed at the back of the bullpen, he was sent to the minors. Similar to Escobar, Pressly worked very hard to move his way up the ladder to eventually become an anchor of the Twins bullpen. I was surprised to find this was the only Pressly card I owned, but middle relievers have a tough time making it onto cardboard. The Astros gave up two AA prospects, a pitcher and a Center Fielder, to get the hard throwing righty. Pressly's still under his first MLB contract, giving the Astros control for a full season beyond this one.

So the question is - Who is next? Brian Dozier, another Free Agent, has drawn interest from many clubs, most recently Cleveland and San Francisco. Gibson has been mentioned in lots of rumors, from New York to Milwaukee and several others. It would take an aggressive offer to get him. The new guys in the Twins' bullpen are likely all available, Duke, Rodney, Addison Reed might not raise eyebrows, but could help out contenders looking to shorten the games down the stretch.

I, too, think Gibson will stay, but I can definitely see Rodney/Reed/Duke all going. Dozier is a tough one. He's one of those guys I hope to never see in a different uniform, but many teams could use an upgrade at 2B.